Efraasia

• Europe ( Germany )

Efraasia was an early dinosaur. Fossils of this dinosaur come from the Upper Triassic ( Norian ) of Germany. He was named after the paleontologist Eberhard Fraas.

Features

Efraasia was one of the most primitive representatives of Sauropodomorpha and reached a length of about six meters. ( Frequently -to-find smaller length information is based on fossil record of pups ). He resembled his contemporaries Thecodontosaurus, but was larger. How many early prosauropods he is likely to have moved partly on two legs and sometimes on all fours.

Taxonomiegeschichte

Since its discovery, the findings of Efraasia were often misinterpreted. First of all parts of the body skeleton have been associated with the jawbone of a different kind. This falsely pieced-together genus was named Teratosaurus and considered as representative of the earlier theropods. It was later realized the mistake and ordered the parts of the body skeleton to the prosauropods - Teratosaurus ( the scientific name of the jaw bone retained its validity ) is now regarded as representative of the Rauisuchia, a Triassic Archosauria group. After they had realized that Efraasia is a Prosauropode, Eberhard Fraas Efraasia filed as a synonym of Thecodontosaurus. Later, keeping the findings for juvenile representatives of Sellosaurus, only a few years it is clear that there is a own early Prosauropodengattung at Efraasia.